Former BBC News presenter Huw Edwards has been given a suspended six-month sentence for child abuse image offences, meaning he avoids jail
He is also required to complete a sex offender programme, and will be on the sex offenders' register for seven years
In July Edwards admitted having 41 such images which were sent to him on WhatsApp
The sentencing hearing is told Edwards, 63, paid another man, Alex Williams, hundreds of pounds for gifts and presents in exchange for the images
At one point, Williams said he had "naughty" and "young" images, to which Edwards replied: "Go on"
The estimated age of the children in most pictures was between 13 and 15, but one was aged between seven and nine
Edwards' lawyer told the court Edwards is "profoundly sorry" and recognises the "repugnant nature" of the images
After sentencing, the BBC says: "We are appalled by his crimes. He has betrayed not just the BBC, but audiences who put their trust in him"
Huw Edwards leaves court after sentencing
Dominic Casciani
Reporting from Westminster Magistrates' Court
Edwards has been sitting looking sternly at the prosecutor throughout the hearing so far.
He occasionally looks down and fidgets.
He has listened intently to the prosecutor detailing what the Probation Service established about his state of mind in its pre-sentence report.
Dominic Casciani
Reporting from Westminster Magistrates' Court
Prosecutor Ian Hope continues: “It is accepted by the Crown that Mr Edwards has suffered from depression and mental health issues.”
He says that while the maximum sentence is 10 years, for the category of offending - making of indecent images - the range is up to three years.
The significant aggravating factor is that the images were moving images.
Mitigating factors to reduce Edwards' sentence include no previous convictions, his decision-making may have been impaired by "mental disorder", and remorse.
There is an application for a sexual harm prevention order which would be for the purposes of protecting the public from Edwards.
Dominic Casciani
Reporting from Westminster Magistrates' Court
The court hears that on 11 August 2021, Williams contacts Edwards and says that he has some “naughty” images.
Edwards asks him to “go on”, and Williams says “young” to which Edwards again replies “go on”.
Williams says the individual in the image is quite young looking and Edwards replies that "ages can be deceptive".
When Williams suggests that some of the images may be illegal, Edwards replies: “Ah ok, don’t”.
Prosecutor Ian Hope confirms details from the first hearing - the Category A images Edwards was in possession of were mostly children aged 13-15.
One was aged from seven to nine.
Dominic Casciani
Reporting from Westminster Magistrates' Court
Williams offered images and Edwards offered to send him £200 to buy some expensive trainers in return for more images.
“They continued to discuss how much money Mr Edwards should send and Williams continued to send images - but they were marked as ‘unread’.”
One category C image sent in 2021 clearly described the boy in the image as a “13-year-old”.
Ian Hope, prosecuting, says that on 2 February 2021 Williams asks if he was sending images that were too young.
Three days later Edwards replied “don’t send anything underage”.
Dominic Casciani
Reporting from Westminster Magistrates' Court
The court hears that Williams said he had a file [of images] of “someone special” and Edwards asked what they were.
He was immediately sent them.
Williams asked "do you want me to send you the full file?"
Edwards responded yes and ended with some kisses and was sent around 30 attachments - about half of which were Category C of children.
Williams sent a further 10 attachments, half of which were Category B moving images and the final one was a Category A image.
The pair then wished themselves a happy Christmas.
Williams later said he had “hot” images and Edwards proposed that he send them via Dropbox.
Williams offered to send a further 12 videos and Edwards said that the others had been "amazing".
Williams sent two previews of images in a Google drive that could be seen in WhatsApp. Two of the images were indecent screenshots of children. One of them had the file name “13-year-old”.
Dominic Casciani
Reporting from Westminster Magistrates' Court
The chat was sexual of nature.
Edwards was paying not insignificant sums of money - by which we mean low hundreds of pounds - for gifts and presents - in return for the images he received.
Alex Williams used the money - more than £1,000 - to support himself at university.
While most of the images were of adult men, a significant proportion of the images were of children.
Of the 377 images, 41 were indecent images.
Dominic Casciani
Reporting from Westminster Magistrates' Court
Ian Hope, prosecuting, is setting out the case.
Huw Edwards and Alex Williams began their communications in 2018. They lasted several years to 2022.
They met in person on one occasion and there is a solitary phone call in May 2018. Their interaction was based on online chat.
Williams had been using a dark web browser to access abuse images and to distribute them to others.
Williams’ phone was examined by South Wales Police and it was obvious that he had been communicating with Huw Edwards.
It was clear that they had been communicating over various platforms - the only chat that could be recovered was from a WhatsApp chat on Williams’ phone.
Dominic Casciani
Reporting from Westminster Magistrates' Court
Huw Edwards walks into the dock of the court. He’s wearing a navy blue cardigan jacket and a crisp white shirt with a buttoned-down collar and dark trousers.
His hair is slickly styled, in his trademark way - and a great deal whiter than when he was last on television.
As he enters the dock, he appears to walk slowly to his seat and briefly sits down before standing again to confirm, in his clear voice, his name, date of birth and address.
He looks tired and drawn. He arrived at the court with a cabin-style travel bag - often the sign of someone who has been warned they may be going to prison. There’s no sign of that bag now.
Lucy Manning
Reporting from Westminster Magistrates' Court
Huw Edwards has arrived and stands in the dock of courtroom one at the Old Bailey looking pensive.
He’s already pleaded guilty to three offences of making indecent images, by viewing them on his phone. Some of them were of children.
He knows his career is in ruins and he has betrayed the trust of those close to him and those who relied on him to deliver the news to them.
The public gallery and press bench are full and in the next hour he will discover whether this downfall will end with a prison sentence.
There is at least one other court case taking place before Huw Edwards' one is heard today.
So we are not expecting to start hearing from Westminster Magistrates' Court for a while yet.
Stick with us for developments as these unfold.
Dominic Casciani
Reporting from Westminster Magistrates' Court
Court One of Westminster Magistrates' is filling up with journalists.
Every available seat is being taken by national reporters. Behind them is a glass screen separating the court from the public gallery. That too is filling up.
The court clerk is already at her desk. She will keep the hearing running efficiently. The next to come into court will be the lawyers for the prosecution and Huw Edwards’ defence.
Once everyone is in, the chief magistrate Paul Goldspring will come into court. The next we will see of Huw Edwards will be when he appears in the dock.
Noor Nanji
Culture reporter
Inside the BBC, there has been a sense of shock and disbelief that a man once considered the king of the newsroom has fallen so far.
BBC chair Samir Shah told the House of Lords' communications and digital committee last week that he and other colleagues "feel angry and betrayed".
When he sent an email to staff after we learned that Edwards had been charged and pleaded guilty, he called the former broadcaster "the villain of this piece".
For those who worked alongside him, it's been a bruising time.
Today Edwards – now a convicted sex offender – and all of us will learn his fate.
Helena Wilkinson
News correspondent
Huw Edwards’ case is one of two listed within a three-hour block in Court One at Westminster Magistrates’ Court.
It’s likely Edwards’ will be heard first.
Now he is in the court building he’ll likely be speaking to his legal team before going into the courtroom.
We should hear fairly soon after the hearing starts as to whether the chief magistrate will go on to sentence Edwards today.
Police said officers started looking into Edwards after seizing a phone as part of an unrelated investigation, which revealed his participation in a WhatsApp conversation.
The Metropolitan Police said a 25-year-old paedophile called Alex Williams, who was sentenced to a suspended 12-month jail sentence in Wales in March, had shared indecent images of children with Edwards.
Westminster Magistrates’ Court was earlier told that, on 2 February 2021, Williams asked whether what he was sending was too young, to which Edwards asked him not to send any underage images.
A final indecent image was sent in August 2021 - a category A film featuring a young boy. The mantold Edwards the boy was quite young looking, and that he had more images which were illegal, the court was told.
Edwards told him not to send any illegal images. No more were sent, and the pair continued to exchange legal pornographic images until April 2022.
Lucy Manning
Reporting from Westminster Magistrates' Court
Huw Edwards arrived at Westminster Magistrates’ Court filmed by TV cameras, photographers and watched by journalists.
There were questions shouted about whether he wanted to apologise for his crimes but the newsreader, once the voice of BBC News, remained silent.
He stepped out of a taxi wearing a blue jumper and carrying a small case.
In the next few hours he will learn whether he will be going to prison.
Huw Edwards arrives at court
Image source, PA MediaHuw Edwards has arrived at Westminster Magistrates’ Court for his sentencing hearing, which is due to begin at 10:00.
He nodded but stayed silent as he walked through a large gathering of photographers and journalists.
You can watch footage from outside the court by pressing watch live at the top of the page.
Noor Nanji
Culture reporter
Image source, PA MediaBBC director general Tim Davie at the House of Lords committee last week
Huw Edwards was the BBC's highest-paid journalist, receiving between £475,000-£479,999 between April 2023 and April 2024, when he resigned.
The BBC's director general said on Tuesday that "discussions" were "under way" about the possibility of clawing back £200,000 from Edwards, but that he has not yet returned the money.
The BBC asked Edwards to hand back the salary he earned after being arrested last November.
Speaking at a House of Lords committee, Tim Davie said: "We've made the formal request and I can't go into too much detail but discussions are under way.
"The money should be returned and we made the request."
Asked by the communications and digital committee's chair Baroness Stowell whether the BBC had set Edwards a deadline, Davie said no.
"But we do expect to make progress and get an answer," he said.
Noor Nanji
Culture reporter
In July, Edwards admitted three charges of making indecent photographs after he was sent 41 illegal images. But what does "making" mean?
It can have a wide legal definition. The Crown Prosecution Service says it can include opening an email attachment containing an image; downloading an image from a website to a screen; storing an image on a computer; or live-streaming images of children.
It’s also up to the court to decide whether an offence falls into the category of possession, distribution or production.
According to the Sentencing Council, creating the original image counts as production, which is the more serious of the three categories.
It says that "making an image by simple downloading should be treated as possession for the purposes of sentencing".
Noor Nanji
Culture reporter
Huw Edwards presenting the BBC television news in 2022
Whatever happens today, this is a massive fall from grace for a man who was one of the most familiar and respected faces on British TV.
Until last year, Huw Edwards had been the BBC's first choice to front coverage of major national events, including the 2019 general election and funeral of Queen Elizabeth II.
He was known for his calm delivery of major stories and was trusted by viewers. But he is now in disgrace.
The BBC has already begun to remove Edwards from some of its archive footage. It is starting with family and entertainment content on iPlayer, it was reported last month.
But some content - for example, major historical events - will be easier to remove or edit than others.
Helena Wilkinson
If Edwards does get sentenced to prison, the maximum he could get from the magistrates' court is 12 months.
As we just reported, that's the total sentence magistrates can hand down to an offender for more than one offence.
But sending Edwards straight to jail is just one option the Chief Magistrate Paul Goldspring can consider.
He can also look at a suspended prison sentence, or an alternative to jail which could be a community order and a sex offender treatment programme.
The chief magistrate would need to be satisfied that there is a sufficient prospect of rehabilitation if that is the sentence he decides upon. Magistrates' courts can also give a combination of some punishments.